Scotland v Serbia: Craig Levein more interested in winning matches than winning popularity contests

Never mind their 14 years of exile from the finals of major tournaments. If there is one country above all that the Tartan Army yearn to favour with their presence at a World Cup, it is Brazil.

Scotland v Serbia: Craig Levein more interested in winning matches than winning popularity contests

Tough task: Craig Levein must deploy a side capable of holding at bay a physical and talented – if inconsistent – Serbian team, while tapping the resource of goals he insists is present amongst players other than Kenny Miller

By Roddy Forsyth

If Craig Levein gets them there he could be the most popular Scotland manager ever. If he fails in the Group A campaign which begins at Hampden Park with Saturday’s visit by Serbia he will not be missed by many Scottish fans, who have nourished substantial reservations about him since he fielded a notorious 4-6-0 formation against the Czechs in a Euro 2012 qualifier in Prague.

Levein was open about the matter when it was raised on Friday at the Scots’ training base. “You know, this job is brilliant for finding out if you’re liked or not liked – I don’t expect, and I don’t need to be liked,” he said.

“What I need everyone to know is that there is nobody who wants Scotland to go to Brazil more than me – nobody - and nobody has prepared or worked harder in the last couple of years to get us into the position we’re in now.

“If it came down to how much we want it, we’d already be there but we’ve got to prove it, I know we’ve got to prove it and the players know we’ve got to prove it. But we’re ready to go, it’s as simple as that.”

A win for the Scots on Saturday would be an immense tonic, especially were it followed by a victory over Macedonia at Hampden on Tuesday.

It was precisely to give Scotland the best chance early momentum in a group that presents hazards at every turn that Levein favoured opening the campaign with two home games.

There has been much talk about the strength of the Belgians, with their highly impressive array of Premier League notables, but if the Fifa rankings are any guide, then Belgium, along with Serbia, Wales and Scotland – all ranged between 40th and 47th in the table – will engage in a dog-eat-dog struggle to finish behind Croatia, whose gentle decline has not yet dislodged them from ninth position.

Levein offered a hostage to fortune, not for the first time, when he said: “If you had asked me two years ago if the group we had then could win every game in our campaign I would have hesitated and been a little unsure but I think we have a squad now capable of that.”

One might have thought an army of caterpillars was on the march across the faces of his listeners, from the mass raising of eyebrows which greeted that statement, but the manager added: “We are capable, yes, definitely. Can we do it is the question.”

For that to be a query that does not haunt Levein in short order he must deploy a side capable of holding at bay a physical and talented – if inconsistent – Serbian team, while tapping the resource of goals he insists is present amongst players other than Kenny Miller. In recent years Hampden has not heard the Tartan Army in full cry too often.

One notable exception was when Gary Caldwell scored the only goal against France in a Euro 2008 qualifier in October 2006. Caldwell earns his 50th cap today. “If guys like Gary Caldwell don’t get to play at a World Cup it would be a travesty”, said Levein.

The Road to Rio – the film – was a screwball comedy, an option not open to Levein. As far as the Tartan Army is concerned, this version is deadly serious. It would help if the first rushes constitute a triumph.

Match details

Scotland (4-5-1, probable): McGregor; Hutton, Webster, Berra, Foster; Caldwell; Snodgrass, Adam, Rhodes, Morrison; Miller.
Serbia (4-3-3, probable): Stojkovic; Ivanovic, Bisevac, Subotic, Kolarov; Ninkovic, S Mijailovic, Ignjovski; Tadic, Markovoc, Tosic.
Referee: J Erikkson (Sweden).

Serbia make strong case for the defence

Serbia may be ranked only 43 in the world – down from a high of 19 in 2009 – but Sinisa Mihajlovic’s squad’s contain an embarrassment of riches, even with the retirement of Manchester United captain Nemanja Vidic.

The defence is particularly strong with Branislav Ivanovic of Chelsea and Manchester City’s Aleksandar Kolarov at full-back, playing alongside Borussia Dortmund stalwart Neven Subotic, who has been linked with a big-money move to Stamford Bridge.

Also in the squad is City’s new signing Matija Nastasic, the 19 year-old who made a £12 million deadline day move to the Etihad Stadium from Fiorentina.

Up front former Manchester United midfielder Zoran Tosic will be keen to make a point in Sir Alex Ferguson’s homeland, especially after leaving Old Trafford following just two first-team appearances in 12 months. Tosic has since been a revelation at CSKA Moscow.

Taken from telegraph.co.uk